Rose, Rose, I Love You (玫瑰玫瑰我愛你) by Yao Lee (姚莉). 1940.
Rose, Rose, I Love You, also known as Shanghai Rose or China Rose, is a Shidaiqu (時代曲) composed by Chen Gexin (陳歌辛) with lyrics by Wu Cun (吳村). It was first recorded by Yao Lee in 1940. It is one of the token Mandarin popular songs in the Chinese folk and American jazz fusion genre that originated in Shanghai in the 1920s.
An English version with lyrics by Wilfred Thomas was recorded by Frankie Laine in 1951. Although the lyrics do not resemble the original version, they pay tribute to the signature phrase, “meigui, meigui,” (rose, rose) by including “make way, make way” in its regular meaning. Peaking at number 3, the song is the only United States popular music chart hit by a Chinese composer, and BBC radio often received many requests to play the song.
The song was featured in many instances in popular culture and was covered by various artists. It was most notably covered in Cantonese by Anita Mui as the theme song for the 1989 Jackie Chan film, Miracles, referenced and covered by David Bowie while on his Serious Moonlight Tour in Hong Kong, covered in Japanese by Kyu Sakamoto in the 1960s, and was the protagonist’s childhood theme in the 1996 film, The Pillow Book, directed by Peter Greenaway. Rose, Rose, I Love You, remains as one of the most renowned melodies in the jazzy sparkling 1950s of Shanghai.
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